Citizens can now experience drone delivery when they order food from Meituan, with pick up at pop-up stores at the Window of the World and Splendid China when they visit. The pop-up store will run until Nov. 6.

A view of the pop-up drone convenience store.

The two local spots, in cooperation with Meituan, launched the country’s first pop-up drone convenience stores in a tourist destination, according to Shenzhen Economic Daily.

The service will allow visitors to receive their food inside tourist destinations 5 to 8 minutes after drones pick up their orders from restaurants.

The Window of the World store is a large intelligent food pickup cabinet, with the top area serving as a landing area for the drones.

During the Daily reporter’s visit, the shop was receiving drink and dessert orders.

A food delivery drone flies over the pop-up store.

According to a Meituan staffer, they are using a third-generation drone with an 8.5-kilogram takeoff weight and a 2.5-kilogram maximum load.

The store covers an area of 3 to 4 square meters and can serve orders from businesses less than 3 kilometers away from the tourist destinations. Deliveries can be completed within 15 minutes.

Customers pick up their food order at the pop-up store at the Window of the World.

According to Meituan, Window of the World will open two to three drone pop-up stores in the future. More food categories will also be made available for delivery.

Wu Ruoshan, a researcher from the tourism research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that leisure, vacation and local life needs are becoming integrated. In the long run, consumers will have more diverse experiences by tapping into the rich supply of local platforms. This will also become a new trend in travel consumption.